Thursday, October 11, 2012

Girardi deserves kudos for gutsy move


I was lucky enough to be at last night’s game and I still don’t believe what happened.

New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi looks like a gutsy genius for finally lifting a struggling Alex Rodriguez in favor of Raul Ibanez, who promptly launched a blast into the right field seats, followed by another blast into the same general area three innings later to lift the Yankees to victory. As Derek Jeter joked afterwards, Girardi obviously knew that Ibanez would hit the game tying and game-winning home runs. But in all seriousness, Girardi deserves a lot of credit because it was a daring move to pinch hit for a guy who could be heading to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The situation was ripe for such a bold decision. ARod has looked lost at the plate. Ibanez has come through in the clutch several times for the Yankees this year. And I was grateful to him, particularly for that second home run, because it was freezing at the ballpark in the Bronx last night and even one more inning in those windy conditions would have been brutal. But if I can describe the general sentiment of those lucky enough to be in the stands for such a fantastic ballgame, I would sum it up in one word: Wow!

So the Yankees have a chance to finish off the pesky Baltimore Orioles behind Phil Hughes. Let’s get it done guys. 

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